Before You Came

Original Urdu

tum jo naa aa'e the to har chiiz vahii thii kih jo hai

aasmaaN hadd-e-nazar, raahguzar raahguzar, shiishaah-e-mai,

shiishaah-e-mai

aur ab shiishaah-e-mai, raahguzar, rang-e-falak

rang hai dil kaa mere, "khoon-e-jigar hone tak"

champaa'i rang kabhii, raahat-e-diidaar kaa rang

sur'ma'ii rang kabhii, saa'at-e-bezaar kaa rang

zard pattoN kaa xas-o-xaar kaa rang

surkh phuuloN kaa, dahakte hu'e gulzaar kaa rang

zahar kaa rang, lahuu rang. shab-e-taar kaa rang

aasmaaN, rahguzar, shiishaah-e-mai

koii bhiigaa hu'aa daaman, ko'ii dukhtii hu'ii rag

ko'ii har lahzaah badaltaa hu'aa aa'iinaah hai

ab jo aa'e ho to Thahro kih koii rang, koii rut ko'ii shai

ek jagah par Thahre

phir se ik baar har ik chiiz vahii ho ke jo hai

aasmaaN hadd-e-nazar, rahguzar rahguzar, shiishaah-e-mai,

shiishaah-e-mai

English Translation by Naomi Lazard

Before you came things were just what they were:

the road precisely a road, the horizon fixed,

the limit of what could be seen,

a glass of wine was no more than a glass of wine.

With you the world took on the spectrum

radiating from my heart: your eyes gold

as they open to me, slate the color

that falls each time I lost all hope.

With your advent roses burst into flame:

you were the artist of dried-up leaves, sorceress

who flicked her wrist to change dust into soot.

You lacquered the night black.

As for the sky, the road, the cup of wine:

one was my tear-drenched shirt,

the other an aching nerve,

the third a mirror that never reflected the same thing.

Now you are here again—stay with me.

This time things will fall into place;

the road can be the road,

the sky nothing but sky;

the glass of wine, as it should be, the glass of wine.